Yesterday was a good day...

...made better because, when I got home, there were TWO packages with fabric waiting for me!  The first was the fabric to finish the Lilac Hill quilt... the dark lilac purple for the inner border (then the pieced border) and the lovely green print for the outer border.  Sorry for the poor color in the photo... the fabrics are much lovelier in real life.

...and the fabric for the backing.  Deciding on the backing took much longer than the borders... but I think this one will work best.

The second package was from a new blogging friend Chris of Weekend Wisdom who was kind enough to share some of her scappy strips.   All the fabrics are gorgeous but look at these black ones... the tree fabric has SILVER on it!

There are fabrics I know will make it into one or other of the Bottled Rainbow blocks....

 

...and others that will turn into mug rugs or a string quilt.

Yup, I'm a scrappy kinda girl... so many possibilities!   Thanks, Chris!

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The next Friday Night Sew In (FNSI) is scheduled for March 18th.  I plan to put the borders on the Lilac Hill quilt top (started at the January FNSI.)  It's fun to sew when you know a lot of others are sewing at the same time... but the best part is blog hopping the next day to see what everyone worked on!

Friday Night Sew In: The Morning After

I arrived home from work at about 3:45 (yes, I left shortly after the students departed) and I was raring to go. Got the mail, kicked off my shoes, got something to drink… and dove right in! I needed to get moving early as I am working today… snow make-up day, don’t you know.



Lest we forget what the snow & ice was like…

First, I laid out the Lilac Hill charm squares on the bed in the “auxiliary sewing room”… aka: the guest room next to my sewing *slash* computer room.


Second, I opened up the luscious Lilac Hill jelly roll and cut the 5” and 9” strips.

Then came the sorting of the strips with coordinating charm squares. It wasn’t as difficult as I thought it might be… divvying up the lights/darks, solids/prints, large prints/small prints, plaids/florals, etc.

I just want to know why Moda puts FORTY-TWO charms squares in a pack and FORTY strips of the SAME line in the jelly roll.
Oh well, I can take care of those two orphan charm squares with a bit of the two different pieces of coordinating fabric for the two borders.

Next, I fired up the iron and got to sewing. By 5:00, I had ten blocks sewn and pressed and it was time for a break!
(Note to self: Surfing the net during a sewing break = too long of a break!)

By 8:30, I had 40 blocks sewn together, stacked up on the bed…

…and, then, I just had to spread them out!





Not bad for a Friday Night Sew In!

This afternoon… or tomorrow… whenever, I’ll sew the leftover sections of the jelly roll strips together, as per the tutorial… then cut those into strips to make a pieced border. All that’s left is to decide how big a border and which fabrics. I won't sew the blocks together until I rescue the two orphan charm squares by making them blocks too.